Means for controlling the motion of masses adapted to perform rotational and rectilinear motion



Aug. 11, 1953 D N s 2,648,281

MEANS FOR CONTROLL THE MOT OF MASSES ADAPTED O PERF ORM ROTA NAL AND R TILINEAR MOTION Filed March 4, 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 flat-Mme.

Aug. 11, 1953 F. K. DANIELS 2,648,281

v MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE MOTION OF MASSES ADAPTED TO PERFORM ROTATIONAL AND RECTILINEAR MOTION Filed March 4, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 11, 1953 F. K. DANIELS 2,548,281

MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE MOTION OF MASSES ADAPTED TO PERFORM ROTATIONAL AND RECTILINEAR MOTION Filed March 4, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 F v I IA! VENT-me.-

'ponderatingly a rotary motion.

Patented Aug. 11, 1953 MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE MOTION MASSES ADAPTED TO PERFORM ROTA- TIONAL AND RECTILINEAR MOTION Flavius Klngsford Daniels, London, England, as,- slgnor to Vlckers-Arinstrongs Limited, London, England, a British cqmpany Application March 4, 1949, Serial No. 79,636

In Great Britain March 4, 1948 Claims. (01. 101-297) The invention relates to means for controlling the rotational and translatory motion of heavy masses, and is concerned more particularly with presses of the so-called rotating platen type in which the platen opens and closes relative to the impression position by a motion which, except when close to the impression position, is pre- In order to obtain a satisfactory impression it is necessary that the motion of the platen should be normal to the impression face just before the impression is taken, and must therefore be one of pure translation. In order. to lay on the work the platen must open to an ac; cessible position, and must therefore have during the greater part of its total motion a greatly preponderating angular or rotational component. It is common practice to control the platen motion to satisfy these requirements by means of a cam or cams attached to the platen and co-operating with guide rollers revolving on centres fixed relative to the machine frame. The cam track, to satisfy the requirements of the motion 1. e. to permit the parallel motion close to the impression position, must consist of a curved portion and a short straight portion blending therewith, the usual subsidiary support apart from the cam track being given to take any unbalanced impression load.

This controlling mechanism for the platen motion is defective in so far as the control is established by line contact, and near the point of transition'from angular to parallel motion -the cam track must be sharply curved. i'l he platen is always a heavy mass and the forces; required to; control its motion are substantial, Consequently'wear is rapid and near the point of commencement of the parallel motion control is indefinite or very quickly becomes so. This results in the machine rapidly becoming thumpy in action,.due .to the platen when required to take up its translational motion, still having residual rotational motion which cannot bein: stantly arrested. Vibration and wear of other parts of the machine are thus induced. Further there is no means of rectifying this condition of the machine except by renewal of the elements of the controlling mechanism. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a controlling mechanism for the platen motion, in which the control takes place by means of surface contact, as contrasted with line contact, of the controlling elements, and thereby to make possible silent and smooth operation overlong periods, and further to so design such controlling mechanism that when the platen reaches the position at which pure parallel translational motion is required the rotational component of the motion becomes zero.

According to the invention a linkage is provided between the platen and the frame or bed of the machine such that the rotational and rectilinear movements of the platen are positively related to the movements performed by the members of the said linkage, and that the transition from the composite kind of motion to the purely translational motion takes place when the moving platen has reached a given position with respect to the bed of the machine. In general, the composite motion of the platen, before the transition point, will be a combined rolling and sliding motion on a plane bed plate, the rotational component diminishing to zero at the transition point. Furthermore the members comprising the linkage are such as to provide control by surface contact rather than by line contact.

A linkage wherein the component movements are positively related to those of the platen and wherein the transition points coincide in time, may be realised by providing as part of the linkage a block adapted to slide in ,a straight guideway the position of which is fixed and the direction of which is suitably chosen with respect to that of the plane surface on which the platen rolls and slides, the block being connected by freely pivoted links to a point on the platen, and the proportions of the parts being such that the rotational component of the platen motion sets up a resultant force which prevents sliding motion of the block and that the said force vanishes at the instant when the platen ceases its rotational motion.

An example of a construction according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show views of a cutting and creasing press with rotating platen.

Figure l is a side elevation, partly in section, of the platen and its associated parts, the platen being in the open or laying on" position.

Figure 2 is a side elevation with the platen in a nearly closed position.

Figure 3 is a front elevation corresponding to the position in Figure 1. In this figure the line II represents the plane of the sectional part of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail, partly in section of the platen control mechanism in the position corresponding to Figure 2.

platen and 2 the stationary impression face with which the platen is to be brought into working. v

contact.

Plane bearing surfaces 3 fixed to the bed of the machine take the weight of the platen, which has cylindrical surfaces 4 and plane surfaces 5 whereby it can perform the compound rolling and sliding movements on the bearing surfaces '3.

4 tion prior to impression, this rotational motion of the platen, and consequently the resultant force in this direction tending to keep the block raised, becomes zero. The rectilinear motion of the platen is now arrested. and the rotational "motion having ceased; the parallel translatory motion to and from the impression position can now take place, the sliding block bein able to travel downward in the slot. In

the position shown in Figures 2 and 4, the platen has already completed a part of its translatory motion corresponding to the distance travelled downward by the block I2 in the guideway l3,

' this distance always havng a fixed relaton to the Since in this case the planeofthe impression face 2 is normal to the bearing surfaces 3, the

plane surfaces 5 of the platen must also be normal to the face of the platen l in order to ensure parallelism in the closed position (Figure 2).

The platen motion is induced by connecting rods 5, connected at their forward ends to the platen on an axis land at their rearward ends on an axis la (Figure 3) to cranks and a driven crankshaft. (not shown) suitably journalled in the frame. In the construction shown, the forward axis .1 of the connecting rod is also the axis of revolution of the cylindrical surface 4, so that the motion of axis 1 will always be parallel to the surfaces 3, but this condition is not an essen- .tial

{The construction so far described allows the platen to describe anindefinite compound motion on the bearing surfaces 3,.and in order to ensure positive motion of the platen, further control means are necessary. The desired motion is one in which the rolling component of the platen motion is completely eliminated at the point when the plane surfaces 5 meet the plane hearing surfaces 3.

at either. end of which are provided short straight -links H). The opposite ends of these links con- 'nect to a linking pin ll passing through a centrally disposed block 12 adapted to slide in a short rectangular guidewayti3 formed in a bracket l4 immovably secured. to the platen bed or frame. The planes of the parallel sliding surfaces of the block and guideway are also parallel to the axis of-rotation 1 of the platen. All these connections are such that they afford surface contact between the different members of the linkage. The links and the linking pins are so arranged and designed with respect to the platen motion that with the platen open the sliding block I2 is buttressed by the upper end [5 of its slot, as shown in Figure 1, and remains so buttressed as long as there is any rotational motion of the platen. This effect is due to forces set up in the linkage by the rotational component of the platen motion, these forces having components parallel to the sliding surfaces of the block which keep the block at the upper end of its slot. When however the platen first reaches the parallel posidistance travelled by the platen when slidin on ,the surface 3., Any unbalanced forces due to the impression itself are, as is the usual practice,

taken by subsidiary supports [1 co-operating with surfaces '3 and coming into action when the purely translational motion begins.

The reverse motion away from theimpression position is a repetition in reverse of the forward motion, rotational motion of the platen not being possible until the sliding block has again arrived at its upper buttressed position. 7

It is possible by suitably choosing the centres of the linkage to make the motion of the block l2 practically vanish, but nevertheless to retain the principle of the platen motion above described, i. e. a compound motion followed by a purely translational motion.

I claim:

l. A press or the like machine, comprising a frame, a bed plate formed with a plane bearins surface and fixedly mounted on said frame, a platen having contiguous curved and plane surfaces arranged to permit simultaneous rolling and slidin motion of said platen on said plane bearing surface, acontrolling linkage connecting the platen to the frame, said linkage comprising a fixed lever arm of the platen, a pin mounted in and having surface contact with said lever arm, a block slidable in and having surface contact with a straight guideway in said frame, a second pin mounted in'and having surface contact with said block, and links rigidly secured at their opposite ends to said pins, the surface contact of said pins and block being such that during the compound rolling and sliding motion of the platen, the said block remains buttressed by the upper end of said guideway, and when the platen reaches a transition point at which pure translational motion is required, the block moves from engagement with the upper end of said guideway, whereupon the rotational component of the compound motion ceases and the platen performs a parallel translational motion.

A press or the like machine, comprising a frame, a bed plate formed with a plane bearing surface and fixedly mounted on said frame, a platen having contiguous curved and plane surfaces. arranged to permit simultaneous rolling and sliding motion of said platen on said plane bearing surface, at least one controlling linkage connecting the platen to the frame, said linkage comprising a fixed lever arm of the platen, a pin pivotally mounted in andhaving surface contact with said lever arm, a block' slidable in and having surface contact with a guideway formed in a bracket carried by the bed plate, a second pin rotatable in and having surface contact with said block, a pair of links each link being arranged on either side of said block and rigidly secured to the corresponding ends of said pins, said pins being disposed parallel to the axis of rotation of the platen, and the sliding surfaces of the block and guideway also being parallel to said axis, so that When the platen is open and during the compound rolling and sliding motion of the platen, the block is buttressed by the upper end of said guideway, and when the platen reaches a point at which translational motion is required, the block moves downwardly from engagement with the upper end of said guideway whereupon rotational motion of the platen ceases and the platen continues to move with a pure translational motion to and from the impression position.

3, A press or the like machine, comprising a frame, a bed-plate fixedly mounted on said frame, a bearing surface on said bed-plate, a platen having adjacent curved and plane surfaces engageable successively with said bearing surface to support the platen upon the bed-plate, means for moving said platen and for causing the curved surface thereof to perform a compound rolling and sliding motion upon said bearing surface, means for positively controlling the rotational component of said compound motion, said controlling means including an inextensible link, a first pivot means between one end of said link and the platen, a second pivot means between the other end of said link and a support carried by the frame, an abutment against which said latter pivot means remains buttressed during the compound motion of the platen so as positively to control said compound motion and to cause the rotational component thereof progressively to diminish and vanish at a given transition point, and means permitting sliding displacement of said last mentioned pivot means from said abutment, when said transition point is reached, to allow the platen to perform a pure tranlational motion.

4. A press or the like machine, comprising a frame, a bed-plate fixedly mounted on said frame, a plane bearing surface on said bed-plate, a platen having adjacent curved and plane surfaces engageable successively with said plane bearing surface to support the platen upon the bed-plate, means for moving said platen and for causing the curved surface thereof to perform a compound rolling and slidin motion upon said plane bearing surface, a control linkage for controlling completely the movements of the platen upon the bed-plate, said control linkage including a first member having surface contact with the platen, a second member having surface contact with the frame, an inextensible link rigidly secured at one end to said first member, and at the opposite end to said second member, an abutment against which said second member remains buttressed during the compound motion of the platen so as positively to control said compound motion and to cause the rotational component thereof progressively to diminish and vanish at a transition point when the plane surface of said platen first meets the plane bearing surface of the bed-plate, and slide means permitting gradual displacement of said second member from said abutment, when said transition point is reached, to allow the platen to perform a pure translational motion.

5. A press or the like machine, comprising a frame, a bed-plate fixedly mounted on said frame, plane bearing surface on said bed-plate, a platen having adjacent curved and plane surfaces engageable successively with said plane bearing surface, to support the platen upon the bedplate, means for moving said platen and for causing the curved surface thereof to perform a compound rolling and sliding motion upon said plan bearing surface, a control linkage for controlling completely the movements of the platen, said control linkage including a pin mounted in and having surface contact with the platen, a second pin mounted in a support carried by said frame, links extending between and rigidly secured at their opposite ends to said pins, an abutment against which said second pin remains buttressed during the compound motion of the platen so as positively to control said compound motion and cause the rotational component thereof progressively to diminish and vanish at a transition point when the plane surface of said platen first meets the plane bearing surface of the bed-plate, and slide means in said support for allowing displacement of said second pin from the said abutment, when said transition point is reached, so that the platen can perform a pure translational motion.

FLAVIUS KINGSFORD DANIELS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 405,832 Dorman June 25, 1889 432,382 Dorman July 15, 1890 1,157,807 Rockstrom Oct. 26, 1915 

